2002 Gimonnet, Pierre - Brut Paradoxe 1er Cru Champagne Blend - France - Champagne - White - Premier Cru

(a pinot/chardonnay blend) An elegant, pure and airy nose reflects notes of lemon, yeast, green apple and a hint of spice that carries over onto the intense, rich, precise and finely-beaded flavors that possess real finishing snap and punch. I quite like this though it will most please those who enjoy a relatively austere and bone dry Champagne. It's also very young and will clearly benefit from 5 years or so of cellar time.

($58; disgorged October 4, 2006) Pale straw. Intensely perfumed aromas of vibrant green apple, quince and Meyer lemon, complicated by honeysuckle and cinnamon. Dry and firm, with sharply etched citrus and orchard fruit flavors and bracing minerality. Clean, vibrant and impressively persistent on the finish, which leaves behind a strong stony quality. Considerably more impressive than the earlier disgorgement I tried last fall.